So, this has to be what happened: Manti Te'o is a really dumb jock who was taken in by a great and sophisticated practical joke. Then as ND won more and more, he garnered more and more media attention so his "Girlfriend" became more significant because the media was building him to be a public figure. Manti (unknowingly) and the media together perpetuated the story that, in most circumstances, would be a 'sick joke', but because of the media coverage became what we would consider a hoax, from the public perspective. So, in that sense, yes, Manti is responsible for embellishing his circumstances, including all of his family relationships, just like the dozens of media interviewers would lead him to do. ....but it was all based on a sick joke that he was too dumb to see in the first place.

Now, an independent media source finds out that the fake dead internet girlfiend never existed, and whether or not he's too embarrassed, he has to come clean. But he doesn't know how because he's dumb, so ND throws one of their pathetic Dr. Phil-watching admin folks out to the mainstream media wolves to try to explain how evil and sophisticated the hoaxers are because you see they have to be in order for us to still think that Te'o is such a great guy. Meantime, he cries and then meets with a hastily constructed team of advisors (potential agents) to figure out how to keep his draft stock from plummeting down to the 3rd round if it hasn't already after that farce of a championship game (and Bill Belichek smiles).

So, we have to account for the actions of Manti, the Tuiasosopo joker (I don't think he ever intended it for it to become as public as it has so I don't think we can call his actions as *creating* a hoax) *and* the media (that's where the lie blew up into a hoax) to create the internet-busting story we have now. It's tempting to want to pin all of this on one or two crazy people (or just an idiot jock), but you really need to take into account all actors here. Just a thought....

A devout LDS member goes to the most prominent Catholic University in the world and then this happens. Surprise, surpise. My armchair psychologist take: he's dumb as a friigin post. he's got a Jesus complex and got turned on by a fake on-line girlfriend because she was dying; he's got an ego the size of Texas and played this up for all its worth. The good guy Te'o learns that his dead girlfriend may be alive on the 6th but---according to him---it doesn't really impact him on Heisman weekend? Did he look sad during the Heisman ceremony? This guy's a clown.

Schapp's interview was really weak but these excerpts made me laugh:

MANTI TE'O: Things happen. And good things happen and bad things happen. And I'm a person -- I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason.

JEREMY SCHAAP: What's the reason here?

MANTI TE'O: I don't know yet.

JEREMY SCHAAP: What had she told you about herself? Who do you think this person is, other than somebody that's been in a car accident? I mean, you know, what's her background and all of those things?

MANTI TE'O: She told me she was a Stanford alum. She went to Stanford. After her dad passed away, she took over her dad's business, Clark's Construction. Supposedly. I don't know if that's real. [Editor's note. Hey knucklehead. NONE OF THIS IS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

JEREMY SCHAAP: Let me go back for just one second, because I think it's a remarkable scene: Here you are at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York. There is a possibility, pretty good one, that you're going to become the first purely defensive player ever to win the Heisman Trophy, the first Notre Dame player to win it since Tim Brown more than a quarter of a century ago. Two days after getting that phone call, where's your head at this point?

MANTI TE'O: To be honest with you, it was on the Heisman ceremony. I was enjoying it with my family.

JEREMY SCHAAP: This wasn't weighing on you like a ton of bricks?

MANTI TE'O: Not really.

JEREMY SCHAAP: It never occurred to you that it could explode into something like this?

MANTI TE'O: Not really. For me, I would think about it, but I was so engaged in what was happening at the time that I didn't, it didn't really -- it wasn't on the top of my mind. It wasn't something that distracted me from all that was going on.

Posted by mojolad on 1/20/2013 9:27:00 PM (view original):Either he was an idiot being fooled or he was maliciously putting one over on the public.
In either case I hope he gets his Little Manti caught in his zipper :>

In all seriousness, we were all 22 once and who would spend 3 years in a "relationship" without setting a meeting to try to get it in or at least trying to see boobies?

Who has dated a girl (in actual physical form) and let the relationship go past 3 weeks if you weren't getting at least to 3rd base? Devout or not, he is 22 and full of all the "drive and motivation" that comes with being a high testosterone male and never met the chick? Never saw tatas? Never said, "come on baby, just the tip?"

BS

Theres only 2 reasons why he didn't:

A) He's complicit and lying his a$$ off

2) He wasn't interested in tatas and was complicit and the other person let the cover storyhoaxget out of hand.

I agree Kilabe. I might have a 3 year relationship with a person online(look at you bozos :) but I would never call them My Girlfriend.
Anyone who does call them that is either lying to himself or to everyone else and I go back to my previous post as to what I hope happens to him.

Seriously, who is going to draft this guy?? Is there any team that could justify risking a 1st round pick on him? (Especially given his performance in the NC game.) Will their fans suddenly support him, and pretend they always bought into the 'I was a victim, feel sorry for me and my cautionary tale' narrative?

Projected about 8th, I think, seeing how far he will fall really has made this one of the most interesting drafts for me in years....

Dream76: I understand what you must feel.
But let's be realistic about pro ball. It's all for the money and to make money as a team it's about winning(which brings bigger tv contracts, selling more jerseys, etc.).
If they think Manti will help them win they won't care if he's dating a nun with a cocaine habit . As long as they think he's the real deal on the field he will make the big bucks.